We received this sad tale on March 19, 2002 from Jeff and Stacey of British Columbia.

Ty was the man. He went by many an endearing name, Bubba, Ty-Ty, Baby, Bubbulooshkins, but he was Ty.

He met his fate doing what he loved the most . . . being wild and free. He must have been oblivious to the world because he ran right in front of a car and he died instantly. His "dad" had him out that day for a mountain bike ride and he was living his life as I would like to everyday; to the limit. Ty had Jeff in demand to keep up with him that day, he was a ball of fire. He found himself a river which was like finding a hundred dollar bill to any human I'm sure, but only stayed for a quick swim as they had much more to discover that day, a whole day of pure excitement ahead.

This was by far not the first time they tackled the world together, not to mention the fact that he was not neutered which ended up in many late nights on the prowl for our little man. That day they had to cross our local highway and in true Golden fashion stood at the road waiting to make sure Jeff got across ok too. Isn't it funny how you can take them out a million times but they always stop in their tracks every once in a while to make sure you are still there?! Is that for their benefit or ours? The accident happened on a side street later that day.

Tyak was an enigma, he was the most polite being I had ever met. In our minds he had the rule of the house, the couch, the bed, the hallway, but if he thought he was in the way he was up in a second. He always put himself last . . . except if we were to caught up in something to notice we left the door open of course. Even then though, he'd stick around for a couple minutes just to make sure we were "o.k." with that . . . and catch him.

My baby died two days ago, I still expect him to come home any second now. I had Tyak in my life since he was 9 weeks old, and sure I never gave birth to him but I lost my child that day. He didn't wake us up this morning with my slipper in his mouth doing laps up and down the hall letting us know that "IT'S TIME PEOPLE . . . GET UP."

His food dish is still half full, and he still has half a tin of treats to eat. What do I do with them now? He was going to breed this spring, and we were going to have a spitting image of him in our family to love. We second guessed taking one of the puppies because we didn't want Ty to be jealous ( and he usually was ) but decided if we wanted another dog like his wonderful self that an offspring would be the way to go. I can't tell you how proud and excited I was. Well on March 17th, we lost him forever and I'm sure that tomorrow will be harder than today.

Jeff and I seem to be lost now, our Ty is gone, our house is empty. Our cat watched us bury him, she watched the whole thing. When Ty, Mowgli and I were on our own, we all went out for a walk with Ty-Ty always checking to see if she was okay, he loved her, she loved him.

I will miss his birthmark on his tongue, I will miss his patience an unconditional pure and real love. I will miss the warm spot he left on our bed, and I will no longer have to look for my other slipper. I was his mommy and he loved me, I don't remember what life is like without him but now we have to forge on without him by our side or at our feet.

Truly my only wish is that he'll be waiting for me to meet him one day, exactly the day he left . . . beautiful, young, with so much to tell me about all the fun he's been having. I just hope he doesn't miss much us as much as we miss him.

I am not ready to say good-bye yet, I can't let him go. How do you say good-bye to your best friend, how do you let him go? Time heals all things, but the remembrance I feel when I see his leash, or the empty bed where he should be is such a painful ache that I can't imagine that he'll never be home again. I feel like he needs me somewhere, or is that just me needing to touch him so bad it aches.

It snowed today, Tyak loves the snow, it brought out the best in him.